Sunnydalopolis, Book II
by regertz
Summary: Conclusion


Sunnydalopolis part XVIII

***  
When Giles learned from his answering machine in order: that Willow had reluctantly organized  
a gang Mall excursion with Buffy Rebecca...passing as Buffy...That Buffy and Dawn had gone to  
the Mall... And that the Byzantine Emperor's subcommander begged to inform him that the  
Knights were marching to meet the Brethren at the Sunnydale Mall...He realized that his  
carefully crafted plan of bringing Glory, Buffy Rebecca, and the Knights together in the  
presence of Dawn and without the presence of Buffy...had fallen to pieces... Both Buffies  
would be in Glory's sights and both were likely to be destroyed...

And, if his plan still succeeded through the loss of the Key to Glory or its destruction by the  
Knights...Buffy would soon be aware that he had secretly negotiated with both Buffy Rebecca  
and the Knights... Allowing Dawn to be placed in jeopardy...He was sure to lose the love of  
the only child he'd ever had...

It was time to leave the sidelines... He would fight and if things went as might be expected, die  
with the Knights...And, if he should not be killed in the fight...There was no shortage of ways  
for a human being to die in Sunnydale...

With Buffy's sudden, unannounced departure...to offer her congratulations to Dr Walthrop (aka  
Spike), Xortox Labs' new shining star in cybernetics, on his achievements in robot design...  
Dawn was unknowingly left alone at the shoe superstore of the Sunnydale Mall...

She was still angry at her sister over the issue of Spike's robot...Dawn being of a young and  
romantic age was inclined to see the "brighter" side of Spike's action in any case...And Buffy  
Rebecca had seen to it that they recovered Joyce Summers' insurance papers, not to mention  
old therapy tapes held by Sunnydale's sleaziest therapist and now defunct vampire, Milton  
Remington...She was nice, Dawn had firmly decided...And Buffy was being...

Having decided to allow her sister the infinite grace of a brief glance, Dawn was disappointed to  
find that Buffy was not only not abjectly awaiting her sister's pleasure, but had disappeared  
entirely...

But Dawn is not unobserved...

Anya is being "held prisoner"...in least by her own estimation... by Buffy Rebecca...who had  
ducked them both into the nearest store to avoid being spotted by Buffy and Dawn...

Too clever to risk instant death at the potentially homicidal robot's hands by crying out, Anya  
feigns a casual, relaxed attitude while awaiting her opportunity to signal those nearest to her,  
Willow and Tara...Xander being still "far away" at her own request...  
Willow and Tara, who are perfectly aware who Buffy Rebecca is...Willow having arranged her  
coming...and that she is incapable of killing humans...besides being Buffy's one chance of  
escaping death at Glory's hands...are far more interested in the commotion developing far  
down the mall corridor where Ms. Buffy Summers (human) is about to make contact...  
physically...with the distinguished Dr. William Walthrop...

As regards Anya, their main concern is that she not be too hard on Buffy Rebecca in opposing  
her desire to have Xander guard Dawn during the upcoming battle with Glory...

Buffy Rebecca, apart from wanting to avoid Buffy, deal with Anya's fears and anger over  
Xander's assignment, and plan out strategy against Glory with Willow...is hoping to find an  
opportunity to mention Spike's new position at Xortox to one or more of her friends...

Not that she would want to boast about the little rat or anything...Just well, laying the  
groundwork...for improving his standing with them...in the distant future...And, well...it really is  
a nice job and all...Especially for a dead man educated in the last century...

And she hopes to see Dawn...if she can catch her alone...Just for a moment's glance...Maybe  
even a quick chat...When Buffy is occupied elsewhere...

Dawn is also the source of keen interest for...

Dreg, Chief Minion and Commander of the Goddess of Glory and Victory's legion, now  
"General" Dreg  
moving into the Mall food court with some dozen Brethren and a captive Benedictus,  
benevolent counterpart of Glory...Dreg's fondest wish right now in fact is to locate and  
meet Dawn...and hold her hostage for the return of Glory's Key...

And...three well-dressed young couples who have been shadowing Buffy and Dawn for some  
time...Knights of Byzantium, elite assassins sent by their Emperor to destroy the Key...Dawn  
Summers...

Of the two groups...the Knight assassins are closer by far...They can see Dawn...And they  
have seen Buffy depart...

***  
Spike vaguely sees a blonde cloud of fury bearing down upon him before he is hurled into  
space and lands against a wall...Long experience leaves him with no doubt as to who  
this is...

"Buffy..? Nice to..." He is once again propelled into space...

She's really upset... He thinks...No, "Spike-here's-the-deal"...No long  
pronouncements of eminent doom to all things vampiral...Just a grim, steady assault  
without words.

Still, he can't help noting, a little proudly...Even as she sends him once again across  
the corridor...Her speed just can't compare to Buffy Rebecca's...

[The Battle of the Sunnydale Mall (The Planets-Mars)]

Events however are conspiring to prevent Buffy from completing her get-together with  
Spike...

Scodos, leader of Dreg's vampire mercenaries, his men, and a horde of Brethren have  
begun to overrun the Mall parking lots and surround the building...

and...

The Knights of Byzantium have begun to arrive in the rear and front parking lots in force,  
their Emperor in their midst...

Despite Benedictus' efforts to hold her, Glory now manifests her divine self in the  
Sunnydale Mall food court...

Dreg has several mallers taken prisoner by his men brought over to provide Glory with her  
needed neural energy...enough at least to hold Ben back for the moment...and engage her  
enemies...

"Dreg! Situation!"

"Your divinity...The Slayer and her sister and her companions are here..."

"Key? Dreg...Key?"

"Gloriousness, I believe our best chance to recover the Key is to capture the Slayer's  
young sister and ransom her for the Key..."

"Excellent...Dreg...If I had had one like you back in 382..." She sighs, and seems  
a little down...

Remembering those treacherous Caesars...Dreg thinks sadly...

He gallantly presents the teary goddess with a Cinnabun...

Glory blinks away her tears...and smiles a little...at her rapidly crimsoning Chief Minion...

"You're a sublime minion, Dreg..."

"Oh, your divine gloriousness..."

Recognition of the enemy, as Dreg might have informed us from his perusal of military manuals,  
is a key factor in the early stages of a battle...  
So naturally he was quite pleased when one of his men looking down the mall corridors from  
the food court recognized Buffy Rebecca as she peered out from the store where she and  
Anya had taken refuge...Hoping to see Dawn...

Xander, getting a little tired of his exile was starting to return when he noticed Buffy whizzing  
past him...on her way to meet with 'Dr.' Walthrop...

It was strange...not so much that Buffy Summers would be hurling down a mall corridor to  
tackle something...but that she seemed to be dressed a little differently than from when he  
had talked to her a few moments before...

What soon exceeded that in strangeness was his catching sight of Buffy Rebecca peering down  
the corridor from a bookstore in the direction of the shoe store where Dawn unknowingly  
faced assassination at the hands of the Knights' elite team...

Anya, catching sight of her salvation, waves frantically at Xander...

While Buffy Rebecca, hoping to find a chance to meet Dawn alone, sees that three couples  
seem to be moving in on Dawn as she stands, annoyed, forced to pick through a rack of  
crummy shoes alone by her mean human sister...

It's almost as if those people were going to...

Xander, still uncertain, happily waves back to Anya...All must be well...That must be Buffy...  
and the other thing that had streaked past him on its way down the hall...

***  
Sunnydalopolis part XIX

Although they take no pleasure in the idea of killing what appears to be a young and innocent  
girl, the members of the Knights' elite assassination team are well aware of what is at stake...

With the Slayer's sudden departure on what must be an emergency errand down at the  
other end of the mall, their opportunity has come...

At the food court, now in the fearful grip of Dreg's Brethren troops, more of whom are arriving  
by the minute, Dreg is assisting his most divine, most glorious of goddesses with her battle  
outfit...

One of his men has spotted the Slayer...Down the center corridor...Even better, reports have  
reached him that the bulk of his men, plus his vampire mercenaries have reached the mall  
parking lots and have surrounded the building...

All that remains now...To find the Slayer's sister and friends...Seize them and force her to  
surrender the hidden Key...

True, he has also learned that the Knights of Byzantium, with their Emperor, the descendant of  
Glory's humiliator, Gratian, have also arrived...In what will shortly be overwhelming  
numbers...But he has Glorificus...And you don't worry about the enemy's numbers when you  
have Glorificus...

At the same time Buffy Rebecca realized that Dawn was in terrible danger, she also caught  
sight of Spike being thrown for the fourth time across the corridor towards the front entrance...  
by Buffy...

Who despite heavy medication and the strain of the past week was truly in excellent form...

Displaying her confidence in her live-in's abilities, Buffy Rebecca chose to assist Dawn first...

Willow and Tara have decided...with considerable reluctance...that they should try to prevent  
Spike's all too eminent demise...

They like Buffy Rebecca...And for some bizarre reason supplied to her by the manipulations of  
her creator Warren the "cybergenius" she has clearly a soft spot for Spike...

They hurry down the corridor to where Spike is much the worse for wear...

Anya is safe...the potentially homidicial robot has left her and seems to be pursuing other  
victims...Her heart can slowly cease trying to break through her chest...It did that all the time  
once, when she was still a demon...It was a neat party trick...

But what's the racket going on behind her...Down at the food court...Uh Oh...

The Goddess of Glory and Victory has donned her flaming armor suit...She hasn't worn this  
one since those wild times with Caligula...

***  
Xander has also seen the Goddess and her forces from where he was waving at Anya...but  
he is more immediately preoccupied with the people being tossed at his feet...by Buffy  
Rebecca...

Buffy Rebecca may not be able to kill human beings, but...Warren's literal mindedness has left  
her very much able to hurt them... Especially when there are only six...And they are trying to kill  
her sister...

Realizing that their attempt has failed...and under orders to avoid confronting the Slayer...at lest  
for the present...the assassins make a hasty withdrawal...

Buffy Rebecca can now turn her attention to the battered 'Dr.' Walthrop...

Who, as Buffy prepares to toss him for the fifth time...is for once at a loss for words...

It has dawned on Xander that Dawn has just been saved from immediate death...by Spike's  
sexbot...?

Dawn, unaware of her rescue...God that robot moves fast...greets him cheerily...He is not her  
mean sister...

[The Battle of the Sunnydale Mall (The Planets-Mars)]

A blast of trumpets from Dreg's men down at the food court and the glimmering blaze from  
Glory's armor in the distance reminds him that he is supposed to be keeping Dawn safe...during  
what is clearly about to be the battle with Glory...

With as much nonchalance as he can muster, he suggests Dawny and he move to the second  
floor balcony area...Where they might spy Buffy wherever she's got herself to...

Anya joins them...

"Xander, did you see how close it was with that thing...How did you manage to stay so calm...?"

"Thing?..."asks Dawn, confused... "What thing?...I miss everything..."

"Spike, what do you think you're doing?" the Buffies pause, stunned, as they realize they are  
speaking in stereo...in perfect identical pitch...even the same hand on hip glare...

After all...Buffy Rebecca is Buffy...

A great deal of commotion is now coming from the Mall entrance as the panic-stricken flee  
from the chaos in the parking lots...

Where Knights, Brethren, and vampire mercenaries are engaged in heavy fighting...

"Dawn's safe...Buffy." Buffy Rebecca calls out to her...Buffy is too shocked to do more than  
look back at her...Spike is enjoying his brief respite from being tossed by passing out...

Willow and Tara wisely choose to move between the two Slayers...

"Buffy...? Can we talk in the parking lot?" Willow asks the still-startled Buffy... Who allows  
herself to be led out the Mall doors...

While Buffy Rebecca goes over to look at...her unconscious hero...

But with Glory in the mall...she also has a task for Tara...

It's time to call 'Dad'...

Tara having passed on Buffy Rebecca's alert to Warren, heads out to join Willow and Buffy in  
the mall parking lot...

And finds herself in the middle of a battle...

While part of the Knights' force accompanied now by Buffy fought those of Dreg's Brethren  
and vampire mercenaries still in the rear parking lot of the Mall...

Knights massing in the front lot assembled around the Emperor...

Willow and Tara had joined the group of Knights around the Emperor...

I hope he's not gonna pull that...tenth century European gentleman, "Ladies to the  
rear"...thing,Willow thought as the Emperor came over...

"We are honored to have you join us, ladies..." The Emperor bowed.

Umm...you know, highness, Willow thought, I'm really kind of an old fashioned girl, umm...how  
about a little of that tenth century...er fifth century charm...

The Emperor moved on...

Hey...we don't have body armor...you know...Hey...

Tara hands her one of the helmets and breast plates she has been given...Gee, thanks  
sweetie...You're always looking out for me...Willow thinks...

***  
The Emperor spoke...  
"Our Empire is no longer of the Earth, but of the Heart. But so long as it is in our hearts we will  
preserve and fight for all the good that Rome and Byzantium gave to the world...and oppose  
that heritage which was evil..."

So...we are definitely not fighting for gladiatorial games or mass pillage...thinks Willow.

"As the last Emperor to reign at Constantinople said before his final battle. There are four great  
causes to die forEone's sovereign, one's nation, one's faith, and one's fellow citizens. And I  
shall die if necessary for the final three...May God bless our efforts..."

Before his "final battle"? The capital fell then, didn't it?...Oh, well...great speech, sir, great  
speech...

He faces the Knights, they salute him "We who are about to die salute you!"

Gee, they really said that...Willow thinks...not just Ernest Borgnine in a swords and sandals  
movie...

The Knights grouped around the Emperor marched into the Mall through the K-Mart entrance  
with Willow and Tara near the head...

Discount night was about to be disrupted...

Sunnydalopolis part XX

This isn't so tough...thinks Xander watching the Knights marching in from the second floor  
balcony rail where he and Dawn stood...A piece of cake, really...

He wishes the Knights were armed with something more than swords and armor...

I mean...Guys?...Glory...superpower goddess...Call The White House...go nuclear... Get me  
the President time...

And, look at all of them still in the front lot in that funny armor when they could be in here...  
What's that large thing they're getting out of the truck...Say...that looks like an...Oh, so that isn't  
armor they're wearing...

There was no need to call the President after all...Not all of the weapons of the Byzantines  
were so anachronistic...

***  
Hmmn...thought Willow...seeing the radiation suits and stickers at the same time through the  
first floor glass...what was it the Emperor said... "Immediate damage"? "Small  
price to pay"?... Well he is the Byzantine Emperor...takes the large view, the big picture...  
and I guess half of California to save the world doesn't seem so

At the other end of the Mall...

Dreg's military judgment had proven correct...Panic had started in the rear...the rear parking  
lot...Scodos and his troops had fled...after obtaining a hearty meal...

The Brethren from the rear parking lot fall back through the rear doors of the Mall...

Knights rush through the Mall doors in their pursuit...and in their lead...

Buffy...trying to keep one of their helmets on her head..

Yep...thinks Xander...He sees the remnants of the Brethren falling back from the rear doors,  
pursued by Buffy and the Knights...We have the men, we have the tools...  
Buffy Rebecca, joined by the revived Spike, has fallen back to the corridor of the Mall  
bookstore where a newly arrived Warren can be seen working feverishly...She briefly slips  
in and out of the store...As Glory, in her gleaming armor...and the Brethren already in the  
mall proceed towards them...Dreg beside his goddess...

The Knights reach the corridor where Buffy Rebecca and Spike await Glory...And see Dawn,  
with Xander on the second floor...The Emperor signs to several who climb the stairs towards  
them...Buffy Rebecca looks pleadingly at the Emperor...He nods gravely at her...and the  
Knights above take up guard spots around Dawn and Xander...

The rest joined by Willow and Tara rush to support Buffy Rebecca and Spike still keeping near  
Warren in the bookstore...Dreg's Brethren now charge back towards them...With Glory  
advancing in their midst...In armor now flaming bright...

Hearing the charge of the Knights to their rear, led by Buffy, Glory and Dreg turn to see  
the new threat...and see...

Another Buffy...leading the charging Knights...Across the food court...

They look at each other...The same thought...

Twin sisters?...The...My Key..!

"It must be that one, gloriousness..!." Dreg points toward Buffy Rebecca...The Key surely  
would not be charging headlong into them...

But why haven't the Knights destroyed her...?

Glory makes a quick decision and with a shrill cry releases a shock wave that blasts Buffy and  
the charging Knights to their feet...Whoever the other one is, she's not the Key...

It's time for some privacy...

She releases another shock wave and Xander watching from the second floor balcony with  
Dawn sees the ceiling area in front of Buffy and her Knights collapse, blocking them off from the  
corridor where Glory and her minions face the rest...

First Sunnydale High, thinks Xander...Now this...I am never, ever buying real estate in this  
town...

The Emperor with a small group advances near Buffy Rebecca...But while he watches her  
and his troops, a large part of his attention is focused on the second floor balcony where  
Dawn and Xander watch the battle...

The Knights are soon heavily engaged by Dreg's troops...Glory concentrates on Buffy Rebecca...

"Well, the little witch and the big witch..." Glory smiles at Will and Tara now approaching her.  
If they could get close enough...To try to contact Benedictus...Help bind Glory...

"Oh, no..girls, not today..." She blasts at them and Will is thrown down and Tara hurled  
against a shop window, breaking glass...

She blasts at the front entrance, K-Mart...Cutting off any reinforcements from the front parking  
lot...

She spies the Emperor...

"Hey, you...Constantine...? Don't you get killed now...I want you dragged alive behind my  
victory chariot...Dreg, see he doesn't get too scratched first." She looks at her minion, he nods...

Another blast and the Knights , Spike, and the Brethren fighting near Buffy Rebecca are  
knocked flat, clearing the way to her...

Glory looks around in triumph...but she can feel Ben inside, fighting to hold her more and  
more..."No, Ben...letgo..." She stumbles over to where two more mall patrons  
are offered to her by the remaining Brethren... And then turns to face the group around  
Buffy Rebecca...

But she's not sure...Why didn't the Knights destroy this twin...if she really is the Key?...

"Look guys, you're all so cute and it's all been such fun. I mean that...really...But playtime is  
over. No little magic tricks, no discussions, no evasions. My key. My key or I start doing  
serious injury."

Buffy Rebecca is helping Willow lift Tara, dazed by her crash...She looks at Glory...

"My friends are leaving now Glory."

"Hey, no one leaves until I say they leave!"

"Do you really think I'd have told them?"

"Actually...yes little slayer. I do. I dunno you just strike me as the gossipy type, you know?  
Besides I think we've settled that you're not going to tell me on your own life so... I need  
somemore...hmmn!...hostages! And more to the point...I see that I need to make an example.  
Lets see enne meane mynee mo, ah...back to the big witch girl." She glares at Tara and Willow.

She points at Buffy Rebecca..."Is this my Key?..." They say nothing...

"You and your little friend sent me to a very high place. Didn't you guess that I don't like high  
places. And did you ever stop to think who I might hit, falling from 10,000 feet? And what  
about my dress? Did you ever stop to think about ruining my best dress? No, you didn't did  
you."

She moves too fast for Will to shove Tara away.

***  
Buffy Rebecca grabs Glory from behind but Glory smashes her back across the room. Will tries  
to help Tara to her feet but Glory throws Will down, stunning her. Xander and Dawn continue to keep  
crouched by the second floor railing, Xander covering Dawn's mouth as she tries to shriek.  
Glory places her hands on Tara and they enter her skull. Seeing Glory grab Tara, Xander yells  
out, startling Glory. As she looks around she is suddenly lifted from the front and thrown back.  
Tara, slumps to the ground, dazed.

Glory looks up to see Spike leering down at her. "Bit of a rumpus,eh goddess?" Dreg swings  
out at him...and is tossed back...

"Dreg!" Glory cries... Now she's mad...Nobody hurts the Goddess of Glory and Victory's  
chosen "significant other"...

On rising, Dreg spies Dawn above...He should capture her...He calls on some men...

She sniffs at Spike...What?...a vampire?...Geesh...Dreg?...what the...

"Oh, no...I'm fighting vampires now?" She rises, stamps her feet, rocking the mall floor... "What  
is it with you people? Are you determined to embarrass me forever?"

She swats the dodging Spike down and throws him in turn across the room. "Aren't. " Wham.  
"You" Wham. "Supposed" Slam. "To be"...She hurls Spike against the far wall. "Killing  
humans? What kind of vampire are you, anyway?"

Buffy Rebecca whirls her around and throws her back... Glory grins at her... Spike is down.  
He pulls himself up and moves in by Buffy Rebecca.

"Is he yours, Slayer... Well, I don't like to make comments but...Vampire and Slayer?..."

She shakes her head, and tries sweet reason. "Look now, I've been kind, I've been gentle. I see  
no corpses yet, and just one slightly dazed witch. You people should be aware that I am not a  
lenient person by nature. I am really making an effort here."

Glory is puzzled. The little slayer is stronger than ever and still coming back for more...Is she  
the Key after all? No...it's too easy...

"Well, she takes a licking and comes on ticking. Come on little girl it's time to give Glory her  
key." She grabs Buffy Rebecca by the arm again and smashes her to the floor.

This time the slayer is clearly hurting. Glory moves back and turns to face the crumpled Tara  
and Willow still kneeling beside her. "Well...? Who's next? No one wants to talk with me. Ok  
then, ok lets have a little more fun then. Come on little witch I think it's time for you to join  
your friend." Glory moves toward Willow who, raging rises to face her.

"Will!" Xander calls desperately. Buffy Rebecca springs up and smashes into the  
glorious one's back with all the strength she can summon. Glory turns amazed. Every bone in  
the Slayer's body should be broken by now... She looks at Buffy Rebecca now barely on her feet.  
An almost gentle smile comes over her face.

"You'll never give me my key, will you little slayer? But you know something, I think your  
friend over there might be able to tell me something. Hey, what's your name? You know where  
my key is don't you? I'm willing to bet you do." Xander looks at Glory from his perch. He  
realizes she's talking to him now. "We won't tell you Glory, so just let them go. There's no  
point to this. You kill us, you never get the key."

"Point, what do you mean point. You people with your little worthless lives dare, dare to talk to  
me about the point. Listen little nobody, I am the glorious one, the one of holy name and place.  
Now you tell me...is that my key?" More stamping and tremors..."Give me my key or all of  
you here die right now. The little sister and everybody but you...you...you...Gratian!...you I keep  
for last..."

"You know I won't do it. Hey, what kind of a god are you anyway, pushing around  
everybody? You can't be much of a god if you can't even get the key by yourself."

Buffy Rebecca somehow has managed to rise again. Glory whirls around and grabs her by the  
throat. "One two threefourfive. Time's up! Well?"

"No deal, Glory. Let her go."

Dawn twists out of his grip and tries to run out to the stairs from between the Knights. "Dawn!"

The Knights block her and she faces them...

Glory releases Buffy Rebecca...She's not certain...but it can't hurt to try... Buffy Rebecca falls  
to the floor...Glory bends over her..."Buffy!" Dawn and Willow call out to the crumpled  
slayer on the floor. Spike maneuvers in at Glory again and she whirls to face him..."She's  
not my key...is she?"

"No..." He shakes his head... "You think we'd be stupid enough to have it here, lady?..."

He's right...I do...but...

Willow watches Spike...

"Vampire...you want your little Slayer back...in one piece?..."

Glory grins... "Tell me where my key is...and I'll let you take her...While there's anything to  
take..."

Now Buffy Rebecca is up again...barely...

Warren, in tears, from the bookstore...I had to give her blood...  
[Play theme...If you love me (Adagio for Strings)]

And now Will can see the cable running down from her right leg...towards the bookstore...

Spike drops back...and looks at Buffy Rebecca...pleading...Time to give it up, girl...oh, please...

Glory faces Buffy Rebecca... "Well, are you my Key or no...? Better say if you're not cause  
this...is gonna hurt..."

"No" Dawn screams, running through Xander toward the door to the lower stairs, but the  
Knights suddenly rising from their corner, hold her back and Xander covers her mouth before she  
can call out to Glory.

Glory looks up and sees her struggling... "Oh don't worry. Don't worry little girl, you'll be with  
your real sister pretty soon...Whichever one that is..." Glory giggles. "Ole Ben is going to have  
one busy night in the psycho bin tonight."

"Hurry my gracious divinity..." Dreg cries to her...He has charged up to the second floor, intent  
on reaching the Slayer's sister but is having a rough time of it, out in front... holding off two  
Knights... The other Brethren are being pushed back...

Dreg sees the Emperor looking at the Knights guarding Dawn and Xander...Why does the  
Emperor waste his gaze on that unimportant sister of the Slayer and the Key?...Unless...The  
Emperor's eyes catches Dreg's at the same moment...Dreg realizes a mistake has been  
made...He must reach her glorious divinity...The Emperor signals to the Knights with Dawn...  
and then moves to stop Dreg...Dreg breaks off from the two Knights and swings out on a rope to  
above the point where the Goddess of Glory and Victory confronts Buffy Rebecca...The Knights  
hurl spears and one strikes Dreg, knocking him to the rubble at Glory's feet...

"No, my gracious divinity...the youngest sister...the youngest!..." Poor Dreg collapses before  
her...

"Dreg!..." Glory shouts with annoyance, anger, and Willow notes, a little concern...I think she  
likes the little guy...

She looks up at Dawn...An almost gentle smile on her face...of course...whack on the head...  
Buffy Rebecca moves back a little from Glory and confronts her again...

Spike drops back...And Will sees that he has grabbed the cable...

Spike that rat!...he's going to stop her...God, do it Spike...please...don't let her...whatever it is...

Staggering, Buffy Rebecca looks back at Spike...pleading, hopeful...sure...

...if you love me...

Spike drops the cable... He leaps to the upper floor...

The Knights near Dawn move in...Xander tries to block them off...He slips...Spike cuts through  
to them...His chip firing on a massive scale...  
Stumbling, he covers Dawn, and grins at Xander

"Harris, make an effort if you would..."

Anya jumps a Knight moving on Xander...Two more Knights moving in are suddenly blocked...

By a third...Whose attempts at a battle posture Spike somehow...Recognizes...

"Rupert!..." he calls as another Knight moves in...Giles dodging smoothly...

Xander and Anya block the path to Dawn with chairs...More Knights are moving up the stairs

On the ground floor, Buffy Rebecca swings in for another attack...Glory slams her back...  
And lets a blast at the Knights moving up towards Dawn, knocking them down and back  
But Ben is holding her...She can't move...

"Ben, let me go...letme go...!" Glory staggers forward...Ben's head protrudes up from within  
her...

"Glory...Stop this!..." The head drops back within...

She can barely move...No prisoners in reach, the Brethren are ahead, battling the Knight...too  
far...only Dreg...and...Buffy Rebecca at hand...

"Oh, most glorious one, only goddess of the world...take my humble brain...get your Key..."  
Dreg calls out to her...

Glory looks at him...and steps over him toward Buffy Rebecca...

She does like the little guy Will thinks...Well, natch, after all those brawny Caesars turned on  
her of course a lady learns to appreciate real devotion when she sees it...she's not so shallow  
as she seems...

Of course she is gonna kill us...

Glory calls out to Dawn...

"Little Key, don't make me hurt your sister...Come down...Ok...Ok, my patience is at an end  
with you people..."

"Ok, ok." More Mall tremors... " Well, no deal, eh? You're just... gonna go on...standing back  
there...keeping me from my key. Ok. Okay...All right, that's IT. Know that I am Glorificus and  
see the punishment for those who deny me."

She grabs Buffy Rebecca who is still struggling to stand... "You never quit do you, honey?"  
Glory puts one hand on her hips, holding Buffy Rebecca in the other and looks up to Dawn,  
smiling fiercely... Spike holds Dawn back... She smashes Buffy Rebecca to the ground twice  
with the one hand...smiles up at Dawn... "Last chance, sweetie...Come down...No?...  
Okay...one two threefourfive...Time's up...Here I come..."

She places her hands on the now unconscious Buffy Rebecca... "Sorry kid, but waste not, want  
not..." And her hands start to sink into the robot's head...

"Oh...hey...what is this?...oh...Hey!...DREG!..."

The goddess howls and releases Buffy Rebecca who crashes to the floor...the goddess starts to  
convulse and is turning bright red...Suddenly two figures can seen, intertwined at the same spot,  
Ben and Glory...then there's a bright light and the two gods are separate on the ground...both  
stunned flat...

Buffy Rebecca is still..

Sunnydalopolis part XXI

"Buffy!" Dawn and Willow call out to the crumpled slayer on the floor.

Ben recovers first and rises slowly. He looks at the fallen Buffy and moves to go to her. Willow  
angrily grabs at him and shoves him away, running to her. He looks around and his eyes fall on  
poor Tara, blank-eyed and still trembling. Shamefaced, he looks nervously away.

Glory sits, dazed, looking at Ben, the gang, the walls. She tries to speak but can't. Will moves  
to cover Buffy Rebecca's body as if to protect her from the goddess.

It quickly becomes apparent that the dazed goddess is no longer a threat to anyone...

Dawn makes her way down to the ground floor and runs toward where Warren is working on  
the robot...Dawn and Spike run to the fallen slayer. "Buffy!" Dawn tries to grab...her  
sister...Spike stops her before she can get a clear view...She feels Spike crushing her hand and he  
releases it and rushes to the robot...

Spike stands, shaken...while Warren continues...Willow sees that Warren occasionally gives  
Spike a glance, a word...encouragement?...

So they're a family...she thinks in wonder...Dad, daughter, and...husband?...When did they  
become a family?...The Walthrops...

Buffy is seen now, clambering over the debris in back with some of the Knights and moves  
over toward them all..Buffy runs over to Dawn and without looking at Spike she starts to pull  
Dawn away...Dawn pulls free...

No, Buffy, no...God, don't do this now...what's wrong with you...Will thinks...

Ignoring Dawn, Buffy approaches Warren and Buffy Rebecca...

"Is it off?" She asks coldly...

Dawn looks up at her...hatred in her eyes... Willow sees Spike looking at Buffy...reproach...but  
sympathy and understanding...

***  
Dawn moves away a bit...Buffy looks at her and turns away...

Willow unbelieving, looks at her feet...

Buffy heads over to where the Goddess of Glory and Victory sits flat on the floor, apparently  
unaware of what is going on around her...Ben, however seems in good shape and is starting to  
tend to the wounded... The Emperor has also come over to the goddess and is watching her...

[Playtheme]  
Buffy Rebecca is moving...

Warren is holding her gently by the arm...and trembling...

Spike turns and sees her...and looks too dazed to tell what he is thinking...

I think he's glad, Willow thinks...

He moves Dawn away after Warren gives him a look...She must be in awful shape, thinks  
Willow...Oh, why, did you do that Buffy, why now...

***  
They are moving towards Willow and she hears Spike say to Dawn "...she's gonna be  
fine...but...she's only a robot after all, Nibs..."

Only a robot...

Will never thought a lie from Spike would bring tears to her eyes...

Warren sees her and gives Will the thumbs up...She smiles back at Warren...Yes!...

Buffy Rebecca looks at Will and Will can see she is in agony...grinning at her...Warren,  
was pain really a necessity?, Will thinks...

Oh, Buffy...please look at her...Buffy...you fool...do it for Dawn... Can't you see what she must  
think...?

Warren helped Buffy Rebecca up and led her carefully to the bench outside the bookstore...  
Dad with his girl, Willow thinks...

The Walthrops and the Summers, on a family outing with friends, a little marred by some  
unfortunate incidents and two angry sisters...

***  
Sunnydalopolis part XXII

***  
Spike grins and gently pulls Dawn along. "The old ball and chain's back..."

"I'm ok, Spike...Go on..." She moves back...to Willow...

He looks over to Buffy Rebecca who smiles gently at him a moment, though trembling, clearly in terrible pain and glances quickly at Dawn...then at Buffy. He stares a moment, nods slightly, and follows Dawn...

Buffy assumes battle posture instinctively as she reaches Glory but sees that Glory is not  
in shape to do damage. Wondering she takes in the room, the gang, and sees Ben who has  
gone over to Tara. Willow now sees him as well and quickly moves to confront him.

"Leave her alone, whatever you are." Will pulls violently at Ben's arm.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't control Glory. She was too much, too crazed. I'm sorry."

Will relents a bit and lets him examine Tara...

Helping Xander pull a dazed Anya out of the rubble of the second floor balcony...Giles, looking  
sheepish in Knight's helmet and breastplate...

Buffy sees him from below and turns away...She knows who must have arranged contacts with  
the Knights and Buffy Rebecca...

Will grins up at him encouragingly...All's well Giles...Buffy's just being...

Spike and Dawn come nearer the area where Glory sits.. blankly...Dawn moves to Will and  
Tara, who is dazed...but appears to be recovering...

Buffy turns to Spike... reluctantly...There's no one else to ask...

"What's happened to Glory?"

"Not sure Slayer, but from the looks of it I'd say a healthy dose of electroshock when she  
tried to feed on neural energy and got straight electrical instead, courtesy of that cable on Buffy  
Rebecca, supplied by one Warren. Power supplied by the State of California. Very upsetting  
to a goddess' delicate tummy I understand. As for the young doctor Jekyll here, you tell me."

"I think he's right." Ben says to them, getting up from Tara. He moves to Glory who is looking  
blankly at all of them.

"She and I are cut loose from our dimension. She's powerless. In fact, I don't think she's aware  
of anything right now." Glory looks at him but there is no recollection in her eyes.

Ben looks at Buffy...grimly looking at Glory... I don't it would have worked out for us  
anyway...he thinks...That girl just has too much anger...

Buffy left the decision on Glory to the Emperor...

"I am willing to trust the word of Benedictus..." he said.

"I'll leave her to you then, sir."

Buffy went over to Dawn and Willow.

The Emperor looked at the shattered Goddess of Glory and Victory, now happily playing with  
a bright thingy which a badly injured Dreg in agony had obtained from one of the burned-out  
stores over Ben's attempts to restraint him...

"Benedictus, if you can swear that the Goddess is no more a threat to the world, I will leave her  
life in your hands...Under our protection and...observation."

"I do."

"Then let her live..."

Ben requested the sparing of the life of Dreg which was granted.

He goes over to get Glory...

"Dreg!" he calls , "I can't be at home twenty-four hours a day to care for her...would you  
help me with her...?"

Dreg looks up from where he was engaged in a game of patty-cake with the divine Goddess of  
Glory and Victory...now retired...

...Oh, the joy...

[Play Glory and Dreg theme(Moonglow)]

Spike moves back to Warren and Buffy Rebecca... and stands by her...taking her hands...

"The Greatest Slayer of All Time" he smiles at her...She grins back...

The Emperor comes over and kneels before her...She tries to bow to him...He takes her hand  
gently and kisses her...and returns to his wounded...

The three head outside, Buffy Rebecca stumbling badly, tries to look back...

Will moves to where Buffy Rebecca can see her and smiles to her...but the robot  
is looking back at Buffy who looks away...

Outside Spike and Warren helped the injured Buffy Rebecca enter the van. Buffy shortly  
followed from the mall...

They helped the robot into the back of the van...And then stood facing Buffy...Dad and his  
son-in-law protecting little BR from the mean sister...

Spike looks at Buffy...She turns to Warren...

"That...thing. Can you fix it?"

Warren swallows nervously. He wasn't quite expecting that...but there is a slight rising anger in  
his answer...about "that thing."

I think so..."that thing" took quite a charge...saving everyone's lives... There may be some  
damage to the neural circuitry...I'll have to see but that's the only serious worry really...It's a  
matter of keeping her neural net stable..."  
He looks back at Buffy...

"By the way Ms. Summers "that thing's" name is Buffy Rebecca..."

Spike looks at her but she's looking away from the van...

"Warren, I want you to excuse us for a moment." Buffy says quietly. Warren sheepishly  
starts to collect the last of his equipment, clearly hoping to away from Buffy  
in peace and return to his injured 'daughter'...

Outside the ruins of the Mall, in front of the van where Buffy Rebecca lay, Spike and Buffy  
stare at each other. Down at the far corner of the road they can see Xander and Dawn now  
waiting by his car.

"All right, Spike, listen. The last thing in this world I ever want is to be in your debt.  
So..you have one week to let Dr. Warrenstein fix your doll. Then go...take your little playmate  
and go. I want you out of town as soon as she can walk. So long as I never see or hear about  
either one of you I don't care what you do with your little Barbie."

She cuts Spike off with a hand as he tries to speak. "I don't want to hear anything more about  
it. This and one last thing settles anything either of us owes the other. After this you are gone or  
you are toast."

He glares at her, then calming. "What last thing would that be, Slayer? Promise we'll never  
save you or the Niblett again?"

"I want you to speak to Dawn..." She looks down to where Dawn and Xander are waiting... "I  
think she wants to thank you for helping to save her." She grabs at his arm as he starts to grin  
and turn.

"So, Nibs at least has some man..."

"Enough!...Just let her say what she wants to and go...or you and your dolly go into the nearest  
incinerator."

Dawn fidgets as she leans against the car door while Xander nervously hovers...

"What's she saying to him? Why isn't she letting him come over? What's going on there?"

"It's a slayer-vampire thing Dawny. You know how these professionals are. Far be it for us to  
interfere in their professional slayer-vampire ways."

"Is she going to make him go away?"

Xander sighs. "Dawn, I know how you feel about Spike right now. I even think I can  
understand it. But really, Dawny he is not a real cool guy in some dark but blond romantic  
way. He's a killer. That chip is the only thing holding him back. Believe me I have seen  
him in Killer mode and I have seen what he leaves of his victims."

"But he saved me from Glory. And he must love Buffy...to have that robot copy her so much..."

"Yes...well, Dawny... while we do not forget that we must take into account that Spike is the  
sort of guy who is very much aware of how to manipulate people. I don't say that he doesn't like  
you and maybe in some twisted way he was trying to do the right thing tonight. But Dawn,  
William the Bloody killed two slayers, two people just like your sister, trying to save folks like  
us. I don't know about the...about Buffy Rebecca... But I know Spike..."

Dawn is silent. Spike slowly walks over, Buffy remains by the van.

"Here, I gotta speak to the Nibs by myself. Why don't you go fetch the slayer a paper?"

Xander glares at him and moves toward him.

"Slayer's orders, pal. Me and Dawn get five alone."

"It's ok Xander. Buffy's right over there."

Xander steps back to the car.

"By ourselves, Xan? Check with the slayer if you think I'm plotting mayhem."

Xander stalks off to where Buffy is watching.

"Well, Nibs..."

"Will she be all right?"

"Warren thinks so...And she has the two greatest 'cybergeniuses' in history to save her..."

"Buffy's making you both go..." Dawn says flatly. "But...Buffy Rebecca is my sister  
too...Maybe...more than Buffy..."

"No, Nibs...not true..."

"Does Buffy hate me...like she hates Buffy Rebecca?... I'm artificial too, you know..."

"Nibs..."

"The day we found out about Buffy Rebecca...When she told Giles...about not finding my  
Mom's papers...she said 'What's going to happen to me?...then she said...and Dawn?' She is  
trembling...

"...and Dawn... I think she hates me...too."

"I did something terrible to her Nibs...Lucky me... And such bad timing..."

"I want to see her before you go...Buffy Rebecca..."

"I hardly think your sister would want you to come out to our crypt... Say, why not wait  
until we have a place above ground... I'm considering Harris for our builder... Do you think  
he's competent?... I know he smashes things well..."

"Before you go...please...?"

"If Buffy will let you come, Buffy Rebecca would appreciate it..."

She thinks a bit... and stares at him...

"Are you still a menace and all?...Of course you've got the chip...but...if Buffy Rebecca is hurt,  
Buffy shouldn't let you go. I mean who else knows you've got a chip? You could get hurt..."

He grins at her...

"Buffy Rebecca, the greatest Slayer of all time, will protect me...from all things evil.."

He smiles at her again...

"Whatever happens she will..."

Dawn points to where Warren is caring for Buffy Rebecca in the van...

"Is she...really Buffy?"

"I don't know, kid. But she's as real as I can tell."

He looks at her open face, seeing her concern and astonished that it's for him...These Summers  
girls...

"Anything else, midget?"

"Yeah,...what was your real name, Spike?"

"I'm Spike, William the Bloody to you...But if you mean the old human moniker,  
well...William Walthrop... It's even getting some use again these days..."

"Buffy Rebecca Walthrop...I like it..."

"I think she prefers Summers-Walthrop..."

Back at home the following night, in the Greenwood crypt, the "cybergeniuses" and the greatest Slayer  
of all time...

...receive guests...

Willow,...Tara being well on the mend...

An extremely nervous Xander...explained by the unauthorized presence of Dawn...

Who blackmailed him into bringing her by threatening to set up housekeeping with her robotic  
sister's family...

Buffy Rebecca is in the biotank for regeneration...

Which naturally fascinates Dawn...and Xander...

"No, Dawn, it doesn't hurt a bit..." Buffy Rebecca lies, calling through the tank to her worried  
sister...

Warren and his need for realism...Pain perception?...I'll give him pain perception, she thinks...

"William?...Do you have enough chairs?..." She calls out...

William?...Willow wonders...Of course...she can't use 'Will' with me around...William?...

'Dr.' Walthrop is all attention to his guests...Is that soda coming from the same fridge where you  
keep your blood? Xander wonders...

Warren is beginning to comprehend the events of the past two days...fortunately his family has  
an excellent cardiac history...

"So, Spike... How's business..." Xander...Of all the things I've done since meeting Buffy  
Summers...spending a pleasant evening at home with Spike...

An almost angelic smile appears on the face of Dr. Walthrop, one of the brightest stars in the  
Xortox firmament...

"Well, Xan old pal, now that you ask..."

The rope sits waiting in a nearby corner...

***  
Giles appears at the crypt doorway...looking...

Willow looks at him sympathetically...Things worked out for the best, Giles...

"Is Dawn here?...Buffy is outside...She'd like her to come home...Oh, Warren...Buffy would  
like to speak to you for a moment..."

We are busted...Willow thinks...Definitely busted...

Warren reluctantly goes outside...

"Dawn, you can't stay here." Buffy Rebecca calls from the tank...One day she and Spike are  
going to take that damned tank and...

Dawn wants to stay with the Walthrops for a bit...A minor family incident...

"Buffy needs you. I should know..."

Odd, Willow thinks...It's Buffy who's all alone...

For the first time she, Xander, and Dawn look away from the tank and take in BR's  
"room of her own"...

"I don't think we should mention this to Buffy just yet"...Xander mumbles as they look in  
wonder...at BR's private corner...Willow eyes Xander...His voice is just a little shaky...

Dawn finally agrees to go out to her sister...

"Is it repaired, Warren?..."

"The body structure is fine, her tissues are regenerating...I need to monitor her neural net for a  
bit yet..."

Buffy bites her lip...I'll never get rid of her...and now they all...even Dawn...

"There is a way I could complete her recovery faster...If I had a neural recording to compare  
to her current..."

"What would that take?...Oh, right...I've already done one, haven't I?..." She glares at  
Warren..."How long...?"

"Not more than three hours...I could bring the recorder to you..."

"Can we do it at your office, two days from now?...When I can get away from class?..."

Warren nods...he didn't expect it to be so easy...But...why at Xortox?...

"I'll come by your office in two days..."

Upon reflection Warren realized it wasn't so unusual at all...That Ms. Summers would want to  
see her sister's birthplace...

Sunnydalopolis part XXIII

Harmony is discussing Dr. Severn's request for the immortality conferring Scroll of Anastais  
with her supplier, Phil "the Voice"...Spike's "acquaintance" in the package industry...

"So...this thing will work, won't it?..." Harmony is skeptical...Surely a scroll capable of  
conferring immortality on its reader would be more in demand...Advertized on TV...

Phil, a "professional", is hurt...

"Of course it works...on money-back guarantee...I never welch on my customers...I might  
want to do business with a man like Severn again..."

"Well...then, how come you've never used it?..."

"Vampires are already immortal, remember...Besides I tried it six times  
on myself...Just in case it restored humanity...It only works on humans...  
But I've seen it in action and it works..."

Well...Harmony thinks...I've got to have something to show for my work...Dr. Severn seems  
like the demanding type and I don't want to lose a good job just now...

"Well, can you bring it to his office tomorrow night?...And Phil, can you give it that "Voice"  
touch...He's my boss and I want to make an impression..."  
"Sure...We'll give him the red carpet treatment. Mystical monks, incense, the whole thing..."  
Phil is used to "enhancing the experience" of acquiring a mystic and priceless object for his  
customers...A little flash, some chanting, a few tricks...some impressive deep "Voice"  
pronunciation from a dark corner...Keep the customers happy, he always says...

Besides Xortox seems to be an equal opportunity employer for vampires...And Phil is thinking  
of a career change...

Scodos, former leader of Dreg's vampire mercenaries enters the bar where Harmony and Phil  
are holding their business conference...

"Hey, Scoo...How'd that Apocalypse plan go?..." Phil calls...

"Same as always...Big Talk...Slaughter...Slayer...Piff...Why do I keep listening to every crazy  
minion who comes by Sunnydale with an Apocalypse plan?..."

Buffy had avoided meeting her friends at the Greenwood crypt after speaking to Warren and  
picking up Dawn...

But she was at the hospital with Tara when Will came in the next day...

...Or was she...Will couldn't help wondering...It's hard...almost impossible to tell...

"It's me, Will..." Buffy reads her thoughts...

Me...who...?

"You know, the one everyone hates..." A sad, but hard edge in her voice...

"Buffy, we don't hate you...But we had to let...her...know we were grateful...As for Dawn..."

"Well, I failed in my assignment there, didn't I?...Wasn't I supposed to die for her?...No  
wonder she feels let down..."

"I'm sorry if we let you down...I promise...I'll never see her again..." Will takes her hand...  
"Buffy, I know this is hard on you...But Dawn just can't see how terrible a thing Spike has  
done...She only sees another you...And then, well...she knows the truth about herself..."  
"I've never...never...made her feel...that she wasn't...Dawn Summers...And it's hard, Will...to  
have her against me on this..." Buffy sorrowfully pats Tara's hand, looking away from Will...

"We won't let you down again...Buffy...I promise."

Buffy looks up at her and grins a little...

"So...You guys...Partying with Spike in his crypt...Well?...Has... my 'sister' gotten him to  
clean up after himself?..."

Will grins back... "Well, now that you mention it..."

Back at the Walthrop's crypt, Buffy Rebecca remained in her biotank most of the day  
regenerating her damaged skin and tissues...

Spike was reading the paper...Real Estate...Well, she wants to "get a real place"...

The night before he had asked Xander...much to Xander's shocked surprise...what he thought  
of the Crestwood/McGarvey area...

"Crestwood..." Xander had looked at him... "Well, property's cheap there...But that area's full  
of..." Spike smiled...Not for long once the Greatest Slayer of all time moves in...

Buffy Rebecca emerged from the tank in the afternoon...She was still looking peaked but she  
wanted something to eat...And to get out of that damned biogel goo...

Spike and Buffy Rebecca love theme

She smiled at him...And briefly squeezed his hand before going back...

"William...You really came through for me the other night..." And she went back...to her glop tank...

He couldn't help staring at his hand where she'd squeezed it...The first time...

And...William, again?...In more than a century...no one...

At least not unless followed by "the Bloody"...

And Drusilla didn't believe in science...

***  
The next day Buffy reached the offices of Xortox Labs on schedule and went up to Warren's  
office...

She was not unobserved...

***  
Buffy came in quietly and faced Warren...He showed her around the lab...

They said almost nothing to each other during the neural recording process...

Warren's momentary anger concerning his 'daughter' had long faded, leaving guiltiness behind...

He desperately wanted to apologize to Ms. Summers and to excuse himself...

"Ms. Summers..." he began awkwardly...

She waved a hand at him... "Warren..."

"If you could understand why I went ahead with this..."

"Well?..."

"I was afraid, of course, of Spike, at first...but then...he seemed so desperate...so lonely..."

"He seemed to need this so much..." Warren eyed her...

"And I thought it might...Help him somehow."

"And you so wanted to prove what a great genius you are..." She looked at him narrowly...  
"And so you made the bomb...And helped Spike drop it...On me."

"I wasn't thinking...and then...when Buffy Rebecca was so human..."

"And I saw her with him...And saw how he was trying so hard for her."  
"I just couldn't believe there could be anything evil in what was happening...To both of them."

"What do you want me to say, Warren?...That I forgive you...That I welcome Buffy Rebecca  
as my latest sister with open arms?...Why not?...Making sisters for me has been a growth  
industry this year...And we all know what a peach your Buffy is...No wonder Dawn loves  
her..."

She is no longer speaking just to him...

"Can't you see...I haven't even been allowed to grieve for my Mom in peace...I have to share  
her...with two people...who claim to be hers..."

"I want to love Dawn...and I do...but I hate what was done to me...And how do I..." She pauses...

"How do I know these...people didn't kill my mom?...Anything to get Dawn closer to me...  
Make me throw my life away to protect her..."

"Do I love Dawn freely?...By my own choice?...The answer has to be...No..."

"And now you and your Buffy Rebecca come along, just when I'm trying to deal with the first  
one..."

"So you see...you picked a bad time to do this to me, Warren...Twice in a few months my own  
thoughts...My emotions...taken by strangers...used...One sister imposed on me was quite  
enough..."

She bit her lip, trying to make him understand...

"So here am I with two sisters, imposed on me by others...Do I hate Buffy Rebecca...No...Do  
I hate what she represents...Absolutely..."

"You all ask too much of me..."

She paces...

"I'm aware that Spike is different from other vampires...I've known that even before he got that  
chip screwed into his head..."

She looks hard at Warren...

"Do you think I don't feel for William Walthrop...for every poor soul trapped in that torment?...  
That I don't...oh God...wish I could help them?...Every night I go out I have to deal with this,  
Warren...Am I killing monsters...or helpless people...who can't help what they do? Am I giving  
them peace? Killing them? Do these people deserve what I do to them?...And not just  
strangers...people I know..."

"Last month I killed vampires who used to be classmates of mine...I knew them... I can't say I  
liked them...but I knew them and I destroyed whatever was left of them..."

"And one day...It will be my friends...my family...or me...who'll be that face in the dark..."

"I can't hope to survive if every vampire I see I have to judge...How human is this one?..."

She stops and looks at him...

"Warren, if you had come to me...Told me that you thought that this could save Spike in some  
way...Well..." She grins at him for the first time... "I'd still have thrown you out the door...But in  
time...maybe... At least I would have had the choice..."

Warren nods, ashamed...

She is ready to go...But stops for a moment...

"But...you can tell her...I don't hate her...And maybe, someday..."

Warren opens the door for her...

"Warren, my boy..." Dr. Severn smiles at him...Willes and several burly security men backing  
him up...

Severn regards Buffy..

"And you, my dear...I'm so pleased to meet you...At last..."

***  
Sunnydalopolis part XXIV

Warren and Buffy at Xortox have been "greeted" by Dr. Severn and his welcoming goons...

Severn smiles at her...  
"Ms. Summers, you're a triumph of cybernetic design..."

Before Warren can correct the mistake...

Buffy beams at Severn and pats Warren on the arm...What...is...she ...doing, he thinks...

"Isn't my 'dad' wonderful?"

Severn had them escorted to his office and waved them to chairs...

"Congratulations, Warren...She's a pert little minx..."

Pert little minx?...Do people really talk like that?...

Buffy does her best to seem as pert a minx as possible...

***  
Willow was reviewing notes on Glory with Giles at the store...When Buffy arrived...

"Giles, I need to see you for a few minutes before I get over to class..."

Giles had been expecting this since the evening of the Battle of Sunnydale Mall...He ushered her  
into his office...Will watched...Buffy, I thought we settled this...Don't start with Giles now...He's  
been on your side with Dawn and Buffy Rebecca...He'd have done anything to save you...

She could hear Buffy's voice getting angry...Giles' pleading...

It was Willow's turn to reach the boiling point...Buffy had no right to carry on like that with  
Giles and she was here to let her know... It wasn't Giles who had let her friends...continue  
working in danger with her all these years...kept her mom around...

"...My mom...Mom..." Willow vaguely hears Buffy say to Giles..

Her mom?...was Giles' responsible for that, too, now?... Enough is enough...Willow goes to the  
study just as there's a crash...She runs in...

Giles is on the floor...Did she hit him?...Buffy...You...Buffy is blinking at him, horrified...

"I'm...I'm sorry, Giles"

... She looks at Willow, ashamed...confused...?

"I have to get to class..." She hurries out the door...Willow lets her pass, and is too busy  
helping Giles to see Buffy pause in confusion in the store before dashing out...

Giles looked up at Willow...

"I didn't realize what she was talking about until a moment before you came in.. It was a  
conversation we had the first month Buffy and I worked together...She accused me of putting  
her mother in danger... I was sure she was talking about Dawn..."

"That wasn't Buffy, then?..."

"No...I think we'd better call Spike and Warren..."

***  
On the street, a man by the traffic light...and Buffy Rebecca...

"My mom won't let me cross by myself..." she smiles nervously at him...

Six years old...and lost...

***  
"She left for class this morning...She had a little headache but she seemed...fine..." Spike paces  
the crypt not looking at Giles and Willow who'd come to tell him of Buffy Rebecca's strange behavior...

Giles looked at him..."It may not be serious Spike...If we can get her to Warren..."

"He was worried about that electrical discharge...I should never...I should have broken that  
damned cable..."

Somehow, Giles thought...I never thought I would be trying to comfort William the Bloody...  
over Buffy...even in robot form...

"I can't reach Warren..." Willow came to them... "His phone doesn't answer..."

"Giles...Willow...can you help me get to my car?..."

"Spike, you're no help to her if you burn to death..." Willow looks at him...A distraught  
vampire...in love...not an easy person to deal with...

"We'll all help you, Spike...And we will find her..." Giles said, putting a hand on his shoulder...

Buffy Rebecca's mind cleared for a moment and she found herself in the middle of Sunnydale...

She grabbed a cab and headed out immediately for Xortox... She had to get to Warren...

Dr. Severn has a little favor to ask of Warren and his remarkable achievement...  
"Disassemble her...You want me to disassemble her..." Warren looked at Buffy in shock...

"Not permanently, son...I would never allow such a remarkable work to be destroyed...If I can  
help it...But I must know the details of how her neural system works..."

"You can't open up the brain...It's...similar to a human's...if you damage any component...It  
would be murder..."

Severn leans back in his chair...

"Need I remind you son that this machine was constructed at Xortox, using my facilities, my  
materials...I have every right to do as I please with it..."

Warren glares back at him...

"She's strong enough to throw you and your thugs out the window of this building...No  
problem..."

Severn leers at him...

"Difficult when she's incapable of killing people...You see I have looked over what design notes  
you had in your lab..."

Buffy interrupts, smiling sweetly at Severn...

"I may not be able to kill you, but I sure can hurt you..."

"I have no doubt of that my dear..."

Severn signals a guard who shocks her with a high charge weapon...She collapses...  
convulses and is still...

Warren cries out... "You've killed her..."

"Nonsense, don't be sentimental...It's just deactivated for a time...

He bends over Buffy...Thank God...Still a heartbeat...

Human or robot, Buffy Summers is hard to kill...

Sunnydalopolis part XXV

Buffy "deactivated" by Severn's guards awakens to find herself chained up in the lab with  
Warren tied up nearby...  
"Ms. Summers...You alright?..."

"You mean aside from knowing how Glory and my 'sister' felt?..."

***  
The gang had met at Giles' to coordinate for the search for Buffy Rebecca...With a new  
member...Who had needed a little help in entering the building...in daylight...

"If she's able to think clearly...she'd head for Xortox...to see Warren..." Spike says...

"Yes, if she's lucid..." Giles ponders... "I think it's best if we split up...She was headed for  
college initially, she might wind up there..."

College?...She was going to college?...Willow was thinking...Well, natch, even a robot needs a  
college degree nowadays...

"Let's have Xander and Anya cover the college... I'll check the Summers' house with  
Dawn...Then we'll sweep the town...Willow...if you wouldn't mind?..."

"Xortox...with Spike?...No problem..." She smiles at Spike...

"We'll join you there as soon as you let us know she's there..."

Spike looks at them...What to say...How to thank them?...

"Don't any of you silly people get your heads accidently kicked in...She'd never forgive  
herself..."

Severn had turned off the security cameras in the lab...No need for witnesses to see Warren  
and his robot...bound and chained...Willes periodically checked on them...

Buffy played the 'deactivated robot' quite well Warren thought as she collapsed at the sound of  
Willes fumbling with the doorknob...But why was she going along with this?...

Willes left after a brief, smirking look round...

"Ms. Summers..."

"Wait..."

Buffy listened to see if Willes was still around...

"Well...Have you had any luck loosening the ropes?..." she asked him...

"Not much...a little...but Ms. Summers...Why didn't you tell them?...that you're not..."  
"Not until we know exactly what he's up to...He obviously wasn't there to congratulate you..."

"He's up to disassembling you...If we don't tell him..."

"And if we do...If he doesn't kill us, he'll certainly be after Buffy Rebecca..."

Warren couldn't help smiling...Artificial they might be, estranged perhaps, but Buffy Summers  
lets no one touch her sisters...

"Wipe that grin off your face Warren and try to get those ropes loose..."

Willow and Spike had decided to give Warren a little time to return their calls before they  
headed out to Xortox...If Buffy Rebecca had reached him safely...It might be better not to try  
to smuggle a heavily swathed vampire into the labs there in broad daylight...

"Tara fine?..." Spike asks Willow hesitantly...Clearly he needs something to say...

"Better, thanks...Ben says she only suffered a mild shock...not like the others..." Willow grins at  
him..."I guess I owe you one, Spike...I'll subtract it from all the times you nearly killed us..."

He nods...At least you can talk to Red, he thinks...

"So..." Willow looks at him... "She loves you, doesn't she?..."

"You think so?..."

"You and Warren designed her mind...not me..."

"Warren didn't program her...if that's what you mean..."

Willow is a little surprised...Then...Why?...

"She's just Buffy...but...if I've understood any of what Warren told me...the one Buffy in this  
universe...who could...Well..."

"...think kindly of me... At least of William Walthrop...I don't mean she likes killer vampires..."  
He adds hastily...

The one Buffy in the universe...

"And she isn't exactly falling all over me..."

Not with a ten foot pole, she said...Willow thinks... And yet...

"I don't find it hard to believe Buffy might be capable of feeling sympathy for you, Spike...At  
least for William Walthrop..." Lucky bastard that Walthrop...Willow thinks...

"Why did you do this, Spike?...I can't help wondering...You love her?...How is that  
possible?...Doesn't this have to be some kind of twisted feeling...Revenge?..."

"I don't know why...I never have...I just felt somehow that she wanted...to help me...And when  
she came to me..."

The infinite compassion of Buffy Summers stretching across an infinite universe to hear William  
Walthrop's agonized cry...I knew my friend Buffy was special...but...

"Do you think Buffy would ever understand?...Buffy Rebecca loves her so..." Spike looks at  
Willow...

"That's for Buffy to say..."

Buffy Rebecca had reached Xortox before her mind clouded again...But as she tried to head for  
Warren's office she soon lost her way...

It was getting late in the afternoon...But from his office window, Willes could easily see Buffy  
Rebecca wandering across the Xortox grounds...

Sunnydalopolis part XXVI

***  
Just before they headed out to Xortox, Willow and Spike received a call from Xander...No  
sign of Buffy Rebecca at the college...But they had spoken to the Emperor...back in his role  
as a Greek professor...and he would have Ms. Summers watched for... They would head on  
to Xortox as well...with Dawn as she and Giles had also come up empty...Giles would return  
to man the phones...

***  
Harmony reached the outskirts of Xortox by sewer line just as the sun was beginning to set...  
She wanted to get there early so as to give Severn a proper report on her activities before the  
"Voice" and his minions took the boss' attention...After all she was obtaining immortality  
for her boss, she might as well get proper credit...

Smiling at the security guard she showed her id and was let in...

Cute...he thought...

Never realizing he had been saved from a gruesome death only by Harmony's desire to be on  
her best behavior...She'd been taking Phil's advice on "professionalism" to heart...

***  
Buffy managed to break one of the chains holding her and was working her way free when  
Severn and several of his goons come into the lab...He glares at Warren...

"What kind of cheap con are you up to, Warren?..."

Severn looks at Buffy trying her 'deactivated robot' once again...

"Very amusing...Ms. Summers...if you're awake you might as well drop the act..."

Warren looks at him...Buffy Rebecca?...Here?...

Severn motions and Willes leads a dazed looking Buffy Rebecca into the lab...

***  
Warren called out to her...

"Buffy Rebecca..."

She did not respond to him...Looking blankly around the room, finally fixing her eyes for a  
moment...on Buffy, still feigning unconsciousness...

***  
Harmony, carefully guarded at a distance by several security guards somewhat more in the loop  
about the 'cute' young woman, was brought to the lab area...

"Buffy?..." She called out to Buffy Rebecca...and Buffy...

"Oh my God..."

She'd read about this cloning stuff but...

***  
Severn reassures the frightened Harmony...the Bad Slayer girls are not going to get her...tonight...

"This one is just a robot...A nonfunctional one at that..."

"A robot...Spike's?..."

Severn grins coldly...Now he sees...Why he can appreciate the beauty of Walthrop's vicious  
sense of humor...Imagine, recreating his worst enemy the Slayer as his personal slave...Then,  
luring the original here...

If he and Warren hadn't failed him, Walthrop would have been Severn's kind of guy...

***  
Harmony sees an opportunity...To improve the lot of Sunnydale's vampire population and  
sweeten the deal...

"You know, Dr. Severn...The "Voice" would be really interested in getting his hands on the  
Slayer...I'd bet he would guarantee the Scroll's performance...if she were included..."

Severn has been conned once this evening...He's in no mood for another one by a passel of  
bloodsucking freaks, out to get whatever they can out of him...Still, if the Scroll works...

"Harmony, my dear...if that Scroll is the real thing...Your friend may have the Slayer...and  
gladly...Willes, have the lady escorted to the conference room...And see her friends are  
brought there as well when they come..."

Willes motions to several of the guards...

"Oh, and Willes, see that the lady receives proper refreshments..." He smiles at Harmony...

Just like the Dean from 'Animal House', she sighs...

Harmony...working girl vampire with a crush on her boss...

Returning to Warren, Buffy, and Buffy Rebecca...Severn drops what little mask of congeniality  
he'd scraped up for Harmony...

But there are now only two guards with him and Willes...

Buffy swings out of her chain and smashes it at the closest guard who goes down...The other  
runs back...Severn, raging, moves to the alarm system panel at the back of the lab...Willes  
cringes...

Two more guards enter the lab...One shoots at Buffy, striking her in the hip...She goes down...

"Well..." Severn sneers at the fallen Buffy. "Nothing like cold lead to take the super out of the  
supernatural..."

Severn has Warren untied and he goes to Buffy, bleeding on the floor...unconscious but alive...  
Severn lets him get the first aid kit in the lab... He manages to stop the bleeding...

Buffy Rebecca is unaware of what's going on...

"Please let me go home...I want my Mom...I don't want to stay here..." She whispers, seven  
years old and left in the hospital overnight...

"Look at it..." Severn rages at Warren, pointing at the dazed Buffy Rebecca... He laughs  
bitterly... "My ticket to immortality...Worthless...a hunk of junk...like your damned transfer  
project..."

He turns on Warren...

He's just afraid, Warren thinks...seeing the gray, ashen face...He's just a frightened sick man  
who's going to die...that's all this was about...

My friend Spike could have given him quite a warning regarding the dangers of immortality...

"Willes, have Ms. Summers taken to the infirmary...I have an ambulance coming in a little while  
anyway..."

"And you, Warren...you and your vampire 'Dr. Walthrop'...Are Fired!...Willes, throw this fool  
out!..."

That's all?...both Willes and Warren think... Warren is an eyewitness to attempted murder...

Willes and the guards move Warren to the door, he turns to plead with Severn...

"Dr. Severn, let me have a few minutes in the lab with Buffy Rebecca...I can still stabilize her  
neural net...The process does work... Ms. Summers and I will have nothing to say about  
tonight...Please..."

Severn looks coldly at Warren...

"A couple of trespassers...break into my company labs...try to steal valuable equipment...and  
my security shoots one...End of story!..."

Willes calls to have Buffy taken to the company infirmary...The guards start to drag Warren  
along...

Severn glares at Warren...

"And, Warren...as of tomorrow I will begin an investigation into the unauthorized use of my  
facilities by you and your 'Dr. Walthrop'..." Severn sneers. "Throw him out..."

Well, Willes thinks...Easier than trying to dispose of two corpses...And if you already own half  
the state judiciary...

Warren cries out to Buffy Rebecca...

"Buffy Rebecca come on!..."

She is too dazed to respond.

"That robot is property of Xortox Labs...Have it taken to storage..." Severn motions to Willes  
who shoves her out of the office into the lab area...

Warren is left at the front gate, menaced by guards...

Sunnydalopolis part XXVII

[Play theme for Scooby gang assault on Xortox]

Spike and Willow arrived at Xortox to find Warren desperately trying to get back in...

Xander, Dawn, and Anya arrived a few minutes later...

***  
At the entrance to Xortox nearest the sewer, the "Voice" and his minions arrived...Bearing the  
immortality conferring (money back guaranteed) Scroll of Anatasis...

They were quickly shown up to the conference room where Harmony was trying to dine as  
gracefully as possible on the blood packets provided thoughtfully by Dr. Severn...

***  
"The security guards have gone into the building..." Xander informs the gang after scouting out  
the front gate...

"What about Buffy?..." Dawn anxiously asks Warren...

He tries to reassure her... "Severn had her taken to the infirmary...There are people there who  
don't know what he's up to...She won't be harmed..."

"All right...we've got to get in there now..." Spike looks at the others... He reassures Dawn...

"First stop, Nibs...the infirmary...I promise..."

The others look at him...He shrugs...

"She'd kill me if I did it any other way..."

***  
With the guards withdrawn inside...Willes taking no chances with Severn's 'guests' and night-  
shift employees sent home...due to a mysterious gas leak announced by Severn...It was easy  
for the gang to enter the building and reach the infirmary where Buffy lay...

But the interior area around the main labs was sealed off...By computer controlled steel doors...

A security computer sits at the main foyer desk...

They turn to Warren...

"I'm not really that good with personal computers", he sheepishly replies...

"Willow, my love, I have a little job for your computer competence..." Spike calls to her...

Willow couldn't find the controls for the door...She started to delete files to clear her  
way...accounting...fiscal...bionetics...fire control...no...company  
credit...travel...security...yeah...nah...cameras...yeah...secure doors...Ok!...

"Got it."

The doors open...

Up in the darkened conference room, the minions of the "Voice" are putting on their best show  
for Dr. Severn and his men... Phil (aka the "Voice") is in excellent form, remaining hidden in the  
darkest corner, his men chanting and swaying for all they're worth...A grand show...worthy  
of the Scroll's legend... Phil is quite pleased to see that Severn's men seem appropriately  
awed and terrified while Dr. Severn takes a more skeptical view...

It's always good to deal with a well-informed, skeptical customer, at least if your product can  
do what you claim...

***  
Severn wants a demo...The ambulance he had mentioned to Warren is bringing a body from  
Sunnydale Hospital...He wants to see the Scroll in action...Before purchase...

Phil is pleased to oblige...What a pleasure to deal with a straight-forward fellow like Severn...

***  
Willes balks...There are just too many of these things...He turns to Severn...  
"These aren't people, you fool, they're not interested in money..."

"Actually," The Voice replies... "We have a great interest in money. But we care even more  
about obtaining the Slayer...What is your offer?"

Severn sneers at Willes and the shadowly creatures.

"Every man or thing has its price." He laughs. "Here" he throws several cards at them,  
"Take what you want, if this works...I'm prepared to pay any price for immortality."

"The Slayer?"  
"My assistant will bring her to you...but we understand each other? You'll give me a chance to  
see the Scroll of Immortality work, give me the details of the transformation process, and no  
harm will come to me?"

"We are always ready to come to terms with a faithful client...so long as you keep your part of  
the bargain."

Severn smiles at them...

"The Slayer is intact...and in my basement...Willes will get her for you now..."

Willes nervously looks at Severn who motions him out.

"Bring it to them...You know the one I mean..." Severn hisses to him...

"But..."

"Do it, man."

Willes slips out to head downstairs.

One vampire comes out of the circle facing Severn and his guards. Harmony.

"That is not the Slayer he's got...That's Spike's doll. Buffy's outside. In the other building...I  
saw her taken there..."

The ambulance with Severn's "test case" arrives outside...

"Nonsense, I have her just as I've said. Just a moment and Willes will bring her up."

Buffy is being carried to the ambulance outside...

It's true...I see the Slayer outside." One of the others calls out.

"Dr. Severn..." The Voice takes on a hurt tone. "Is this the way you mean to conduct business  
with us?...I fear..." A vampire returns with the doctor's cards...

"Doctor..." The Voice is harsh and forbidding now. "I see we can not offer you the knowledge  
of the Scroll or even our own gift of immortality...You are, I'm afraid, unworthy."

"What do you mean? I'm a powerful man I can give you all you want..."

"Dr. Severn...your credit cards have been...declined."

Phil, in his "Voice" persona emerges from the shadows surrounding Severn and the two  
guards. Plus a gaggle of hungry vampires of whom Harmony forms a part.

"However, so that the evening will not be a total loss..."

The vampires close in on the screaming Severn and his men...

"I get dibs on the little guy."

Harmony forces her way through to one of the guards...Shoved back she grabs the first thing  
she can find and throws it in anger at the others. It's a container of alcohol and it smashes  
against one of the big candles the vamps are holding over Severn and his dying men. A fire  
immediately breaks out and spreads quickly through the room.

Harmony grimaces. "Geesh... sorry." and leaps with several of the others out the back window  
of the lab.

Landing with a perfect cartwheel, Harmony can't resist giving a "Go, Sunnydale High" to  
celebrate before she runs off...

[Play theme for Scene at Xortox]  
The fires spread all over the building area and soon it's all aflame...

Willes had run to the basement level door and shut it on seeing Spike and Warren in the hall...  
They pursue him, banging on the door...He goes deeper into the basement to the storage area  
where Buffy Rebecca is standing, still lost in memories...He shuts that door as well...

The fires reach the first floor...

Willow and Xander on the first floor manage to reach the door where Warren and Spike are  
calling to them and to Buffy Rebecca. Spike manages to get in as far as the basement stairway  
before a part of the roof caves in. Warren and Xander pull him back to the door and more of  
the roof comes down.

Buffy Rebecca is wandering, calling as Willes who had been guiding her to the stairs is now  
desperately trying to hold onto her for help. She calls to her mother and Dawn...She is eleven  
years old and the house is on fire, Mom and Dawn trapped in the flames.

"Mom, Dawn!...Where are you? I'm coming."

Willes tries to get her to lead him out... "There's no one here but us." He pleads. "You have to  
help me, get me out."

She turns to him. "Please, where's my mother? Where's my sister?... Dawn!" She calls.  
"Mom!"

Willes, blinded, screams for help. The flames are all around them and Buffy Rebecca's clothes  
are burning. She wanders to the stairs, still looking for her family and climbs them, Willes  
trailing desperately behind.

"Mom! Dawn!"...She calls as she reaches the top of the stairs. Spike and Warren can now hear  
her.

"Buffy, come on. This way..."

"Where are my mother and sister? Help me please. Mom! Dawn!..."

She is still behind the door to the stairs...

"Buffy Rebecca!...Rebecca!" Spike screams and begins to dig through the burning rubble.  
Warren and Xander try to force their way through as well.

"Buffy!" It's Dawn now at the outside door, poking her head in past Xander who grabs her.

"Dawn?" Buffy Rebecca yells.

"Mom and I are here Buffy, over here...Come on."

Buffy Rebecca tries to force the door but it's stuck She smashes at the door and it opens.  
Spike seeing her calls to her. "Buffy! Come on girl!"

Willes whimpers and the robot hears him feebly beg. She turns back towards him...The door is  
blasted shut by a draft of fire. Buffy Rebecca tries but cannot force the door...

Willes screams in agony and mercifully faints as the flames sear him. Buffy Rebecca shakes  
herself and picking him up carefully, smashes again at the door. This time it gives and she can  
see the hollering Warren and the others. She carries Willes out to the open field and drops him,  
stumbling herself. Warren and Spike run to her with Xander following. Willes is loudly  
moaning. Buffy Rebecca is badly burned, stumbling, and falls...

Spike is hysterical... He runs to the moaning Willes...No chip is going to stop him...But Warren  
grabs the vampire and shakes him...

"Spike! I need you...Nothing matters but here!" He gently strokes Buffy Rebecca's head...  
"Anything else can be fixed easily. We have to stabilize the brain as soon as possible." The  
vampire calms down, looking at his friend...

Together they carry Buffy Rebecca to Warren's van, Xander still following...They take her  
back to the crypt, Warren setting immediately to work. Xander, feeling helpless, leaves after a  
bit.

***  
Sunnydalopolis part XXVIII  
Conclusion

Xander and Giles came back the next day. At three the previous morning, Spike had come by  
the hospital to ask about Buffy and told them that Warren seemed to think he had stopped  
the deterioration for now at least.

He and Giles had promised to check-in while the others stayed with Buffy...

She is in a bathrobe, sitting up outside the crypt in the morning sun, only a few burn scars  
visible. She is reading something and smiles up at Xander...Spike having asked Giles inside...

"Well, Buf...Buffy Rebecca...you're looking great. Warren does it again I see."

"Xander, I'm so glad you came... Is everyone all right?"

"Right as rain...Buffy's going to be fine...Unfortunately even the loathsome Mr. Willes looks to  
make it...Umm, Buffy...Rebecca...the others will be coming to see you a little later...As for  
Buffy...When she's better...Well...it's a little hard for her to deal yet..."

"I know, Xander...I don't expect her to come...But I am so happy you did."

"What'ya reading. 'David Copperfield'. A classic...a Spike favorite by any chance?..."

"Giles is here...He should be out in a minute..."

The silence around them is deafening and he knows now why Warren and Spike and Giles are  
so quiet inside the crypt. She is only a robot, he thinks...only a robot. She's not alive, she's  
not.

But he knows...He is not attending a sickbed...this is a deathwatch...

She looks at him...So, she knows too...And she wanted to tell him alone...Because she knew  
that of all the gang...

...Just as Buffy would...

"Well, Buffy...it..." He can't speak...It's not fair...It's not...She's not Buffy...I shouldn't have to  
feel this way...

She takes his hand...

"Xander..." She says gently, looking at him gravely. He can't help bursting into tears and she  
strokes his head in her lap...

Warren continued to monitor her for the remaining hours of her life but he had known since  
early that morning that it was hopeless. Spike amazed him, quiet and patient, no more angry  
railing against fate and the gods, just gentleness to the end. When Buffy Rebecca, feeling her  
mind slipping away, begged to be placed in the tank so that her body would regenerate as  
much as possible, so if Dawn came to see her...Spike agreed and carefully lifted her into  
the tank. He sat by her, the tank open while Warren worked to the end, patiently...

Finally about two o'clock that afternoon she looked at Spike gently.

"William, you know what we slayers say...If you can't be good..." She grinned at him... "My  
sister will kill you..." Then she went to sleep, humming the tune Spike had given her...

A gift from a mother-in-law dead over a century...

I Know Where I'm Goin'

Buffy finally came by the crypt two days later, fighting conflicting impulses... She was startled  
by Spike's manner, so gentle, so quiet, so anxious to make it easy for her. He was the  
perfect...brother-in-law? He guided her to where the robot had spent the few weeks of her life  
and left her to look through and piece together the little snippets of Dawn's and hers' and  
Joyce's lives that Buffy Rebecca had managed to gather from Spike's collection of Buffy items  
and from various places. Old discarded photos, a bit of Joyce's old needlework, an old  
Sunnydale High poster, a college catalogue...an old ridiculous clay thing Dawn had made  
for Joyce...all things that had linked Buffy Rebecca to the mother and sisters she had never  
known outside of memory.

And a picture, half old...Joyce, Buffy, Dawn...the gang...half new...Warren, Spike, and Buffy  
Rebecca...taped together...The Summers and the Walthrops...

My sister, thought Buffy. My twin sister...who I knew completely and never knew...

On the table a notebook with some entries, she tries to read some but can only manage a little  
at this time. On the first page, notes on Glory...and a list of careers, some ridiculous, but  
one... "Child Psychologist" marked with a check and then a question mark. Child  
Psychologist...and Slayer...she thought.

Good combination... A little career advice from my twin sister...

Further in the journal, one entry catches her eye. "Angel was given his humanity back...Spike is  
having to earn his..." And near the end, "Buffy Rebecca Summers-Walthrop. Buffy Rebecca  
Walthrop-Summers? Oh, please!..." Exclamation point right through the page.

And tucked inside, a couple of hesitant, tentative poems, by one William Walthrop, Esquire.

Spike was waiting patiently when she came up and he handed a video tape.

"I've a copy, thought you might like to have one yourself...It's from when she was making a  
tape for old Riley."

"A tape for Riley?"

"She wanted to replace the one you thought was going to him. Old Warren's neural  
recording... She thought if she sent one to him, as you, he might send one back... Guess  
she didn't like the thought of you waiting for an answer from him when he never received  
yours."

"He did...I thought it was a little strange...different from the one we sent."

My last gift from my dead sister... Riley had better be worth the trouble...

My twin, who, like the song Spike had given her, always had known where she was going  
...who she would be with...and feared for the twin who didn't...

"It's just some practice and foolishness...but you...and Dawny might like it..."

"Thanks, Sp...Will...Thank you."

My brother-in-law, the vam...my brother-in-law William Walthrop.

"I'll be going..."...He hesitated. "If you don't object...I'm not going that far away...Warren has  
some idea I could hold an honest job...and I may have some Slaying of my own to do. She  
wanted someone to keep an eye on Dawny...Just in case Keys outlive the normal span, you  
know?"

She nodded...A last gift to Dawn...

"Keep in touch, Will...I mean that."

"Right, Buffy, well.."

They left the crypt and Buffy headed home to Dawn...

He watched her... My sis...Buffy Summers, Vampire-Slayer...quite a girl...

He'd be around...Dr. Walthrop the cybernetist...maybe in time he'd actually learn enough from  
old Warren to keep his end up...he had plenty of time... And he'd look after the Summers girls,  
his sisters-in-law...by night...but maybe by day, too, in time... There must be another of those  
damned daylight rings around somewhere...He'd ask Willow sometime... He might need it...It  
would be just like Buffy to survive countless attacks by endless monsters to get in trouble from  
some mugger in the daylight...

He'd just got it wrong before...A slight mistake...He was in love with a Buffy Summers...just  
not this particular Buffy Summers, a different one...Buffy Rebecca Summers, plucked for a  
visit to him courtesy of his friend Warren the cybergenius out of an infinite universe of infinite  
possibilities...to let him know...that she was waiting for him...and so it was worth it...to try...  
Even if the bloody chip ever failed him...

He would find her again...somewhere... All it took was a little British pluck... After all, he had  
eternity... And Eternity was plenty of time...

And when he found her...

...oh, the joy...

Play end theme  
Go Back


End file.
